Julian Assange arrested in London

[Ronald Sandoval]

and he looks about 80 years old omg https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47891737

[BugMeister]

news coming in..
https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/ ... ve-updates

live footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stTMt1tLT4g

[Bishop149]

The man is an idiot.

If his goal was to avoid extradition to the US then he should of:
- Gone to Sweden
- Stood trial for the crimes of which he was accused
- If found guilty, serve his time
If he'd done that then by now in all probability he'd be a free man in country that has a strong history of NOT extraditing its residents.

Instead he chose to voluntarily imprison himself for 7 years within an embassy in a country that is affectionately known by some as the "51st State". He then proceed to do everything possible to annoy the said embassy until they inevitably kicked him out. Granted he tried to buy himself a sympathetic US President in the mean time, but I seriously doubt Trump will reward him for that or in fact even knows who the hell he is.

[Usenko]

We already knew he was an idiot.

He released documents without any thought for the people he may harm or endanger. It was less "the Public has a right to know," and more "Neener, neener, you can't stop me!"

So we have 7 years of acting to type.

[Chips]

He released documents without any thought for the people he may harm or endanger. It was less "the Public has a right to know," and more "Neener, neener, you can't stop me!"

This doesn't mean some of the releases weren't of interest to the global community, such as war crimes (shooting of civilians and injured people) and lifting the lid on some pretty awful goings on.

Of interest is that he's not just arrested for skipping bail, but already there's an extradition request from the US - so his fears were well founded. I agree he should have gone to Sweden to face the potential music while he had the chance...
I can't help but feel if he is tried for crimes over there, compared to the same crimes in the EU, he'll find in the EU he'd have served moderate sentences at worst. In the US, if tried and sentenced for crimes, I'd be amazed if he sees the light of day again. They don't mess around over there with sentencing.

[Mightysword]

and he looks about 80 years old omg https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47891737

it looks like he turns into Castro or Ho Chi Minh.

[Chips]

He *has* been living in a single place for 7 years without getting outside...

[Bishop149]

Well lots of opinions flying around, mostly polarised to the extremes. Assange is either a hero or a arch-villain.

My own opinions are unsurprisingly a little more mixed.
- Wikileaks may have been founded around some admirable principles, but has executed on them poorly in the extreme.
- Despite claiming to be a force opposing bias and corruption Wikileaks is patently as biased and corrupt as any other organisation, arguable substantially more so due to both the very nature of their business and Assange personally.
- Assange is a misogynist scumbag who responded to a rape allegation by running away and hiding, this is not how innocent people behave.
- Justice will not be best served by his extradition to the USA, who seem more interested in making an example than anything else.
- If Sweden now reactivates its own extradition procedure (as they said they would if he ever became "available" again) they should be prioritised over the US.

[BugMeister]

- If Sweden now reactivates its own extradition procedure (as they said they would if he ever became "available" again) they should be prioritised over the US.

- that may well be his only hope..

[Ronald Sandoval]

the timing of the whole thing seems a bit off and the foreign secretary seems to think he is the home secretary

[Morkonan]

Ecuador got rid of a troublesome houseguest. They claim he even smeared feces on the walls... A long time ago, back before he was actively being hunted, he also got a bad rap as a very bad houseguest from some people he stayed with. It seems that he's a bit egocentric. He's a bit unhinged.

Wikileaks, while sounding noble and certainly appealing to a healthy number of netizens, has not necessarily lived up to its lofty goals. Wikileaks turned down Russian leaks (There's more in there than the headline.) Some of that may be directly due to Assange, himself, who is self-proclaimed god-emperor of Wikileaks despite having rivals in the ranks who don't agree with him. (Contrary to some claims, it's more than just Assange involved in Wikileaks.)

Now, however, Assange is meat-on-the-hoof for anyone with extradition arrangements with the U.K. While the UK is apparently charging him with missing court dates/whatever, the US has more serious charges related to his advising of Chelsea Manning about "hacking." Whatever... he may have said something like "Just put a boot disk in the CD-Rom drive and you're in." But, even if he said something like that, it's "active participation" in a crime. Law Enforcement in the US allows "journalists" a lot of leeway in reporting. "In reporting." But, as soon as anyone steps over the line and becomes an active participant in a crime, all bets are off. It seems Assange was a bit too enthusiastic about obtaining classified information.

On Wikileaks - Interesting idea, could have benefited a lot of people. But, now it's largely just an attack platform subject to being manipulated.

[Ketraar]

Ecuador just received 4200 Million Dollars in funds from IMF. Yes timing is indeed interesting.

MFG

Ketraar

[Morkonan]

Ecuador just received 4200 Million Dollars in funds from IMF. Yes timing is indeed interesting.
...

I assume you're implying some conspiracy. Assange isn't worth a buck twenty-five... He's an "also ran." Sure, the US wants him, but do you think the US really cares that much? If we did, we would have gone to Ecuador and pressed our case with more emphasis. It's not like we thought he'd live there forever. There isn't likely to be much that Assange could tell us about Wikileaks that US Intelligence agencies don't already know.

[Mightysword]

Yeah, I doubt we would even drop half that amount to get Bin Laden when he was loose. Sure, no doubt the US want to get a hand on him, but most likely "just because". He's hardly a big fish.

[Ronald Sandoval]

Julian Assange's belongings 'to be handed to US https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... give-to-us

[RegisterMe]

Ecuador just received 4200 Million Dollars in funds from IMF. Yes timing is indeed interesting.
...

I assume you're implying some conspiracy. Assange isn't worth a buck twenty-five... He's an "also ran." Sure, the US wants him, but do you think the US really cares that much? If we did, we would have gone to Ecuador and pressed our case with more emphasis. It's not like we thought he'd live there forever. There isn't likely to be much that Assange could tell us about Wikileaks that US Intelligence agencies don't already know.

I think you might be missing a somewhat obvious point there Morkonan. It would be extremely convenient for everybody concerned should Assange be shipped off to Sweden, first, on a rape trial.

Saves the UK#s blushes. Sweden's blushes, NATO's blushes, Ecuador's blushes and...... Trump's blushes.

If he's as important as the US has made him out to be where are all the journalists digging into him, and his sources?

[Ronald Sandoval]

Julian Assange, Wikileaks co-founder, faces 17 new charges in US https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48391266 because reporting the murder of the innocent is violating the US espionage act

[fiksal]

Julian Assange, Wikileaks co-founder, faces 17 new charges in US https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48391266 because reporting the murder of the innocent is violating the US espionage act

are you saying he didnt reveal names and didnt put anyone at risk as the charges say?

[Chips]

Julian Assange, Wikileaks co-founder, faces 17 new charges in US https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48391266 because reporting the murder of the innocent is violating the US espionage act

The likes of the Guardian reported the "murder of innocents". Assange did not.

Assange only published stolen material - it was the newspapers and investigative folks who uncovered the content and reported it in a reasonably responsible matter. Assange believes he had no responsibilities to anyone's welfare, didn't censor to protect individuals, just gave it all out.

It could all have been published by him while protecting the vulnerable. He didn't. It's unsurprising the amount of charges are increasing, and I can only assume that's to make a stronger case for extradition over Sweden as they'll have known this lot for years. Still think he should serve his time (if found guilty) in Sweden first, and then be shipped to the US.

[Bishop149]

Assange is a trash human.
Regretfully however, the article below has a point:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... ch/590254/

Extradite him to Sweden, try him for the crimes of which he stands accused there, let the Swedes decide what to do with him afterwards.
Frankly I trust them to make the right call here a damn sight more than I trust my own government, sycophants to the US that they are.